Category: Burbank Leader

Information from a new dashboard unveiled by Los Angeles County officials this week indicated that as of Friday, 26 Burbank residents had succumbed to the coronavirus.
Additionally, a total of 960 residents had been tested for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and 241 were confirmed to be infected. The figures, which are produced by the L.A. County Department of Public Health, only reflect how many tests were positive and do not reflect patient recoveries or possible reinfection. Continue reading “New Tool Highlights Coronavirus Test and Death Counts”

For 112 years, Burbank residents have been able to read, enjoy, admire and sometimes disagree with what has appeared in their community newspaper, the Burbank Leader (formerly known as the Burbank Review).
I am pleased to be the new publisher of this esteemed publication, having been passed that torch by the previous owner, the California Times (the parent company of the Los Angeles Times).
When it was announced about two weeks ago that the final issue of The Leader was upcoming, I simply couldn’t bear to see that happen. I felt that this newspaper’s remarkable legacy, dating back to 1908, needed to be preserved. To put the Burbank Leader launch in historical perspective, Theodore Roosevelt was President of the United States, having followed William McKinley. As a nation, we were a little less than a decade away from becoming involved in World War I. That’s quite a history. Continue reading “Newspaper’s ‘Remarkable Legacy’ Will Be Preserved”

Before Stefanie Enokian jumped onto Google Classroom to reconnect with 178 students from her six classes at Luther Burbank Middle School, there was a week of uncertainty and waiting.

One by one, Los Angeles County school districts announced shutdowns as the coronavirus was beginning to be described as a pandemic. Burbank Unified extended spring break for students from March 16 to March 30, not knowing what classrooms would look like by April.

Continue reading “Burbank Unified rolls out online learning with an emphasis on retaining skills already learned”

The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in businesses changing their operations or shuttering, events being postponed or canceled and has forced people to stay indoors to weather the threat.

While it might be some time until the public can go outside in large groups, officials with the Burbank Tournament of Roses Assn. are hoping to give people some entertainment at the start of the new year.

The volunteer-run organization recently completed a line drawing of its float, tentatively titled, “An Unlikely Tale,” in which a child dressed in armor is reading a book alongside a dragon. A final rendering is expected to be completed sometime next month.

The theme of the 2021 Rose Parade is “Dream. Believe. Achieve” and is aimed at celebrating education.

Linda Cozakos, president of the Burbank association, said she and other members have had to adapt to the times and have contacted one another via video conferences or phone calls to continue the planning process. Continue reading “Burbank to continue working on 2021 Rose Parade float”

It is not out of the ordinary for Laurie Bleick, executive director of the Family Service Agency of Burbank, or FSA, to regularly meet with her staff in what she calls “leadership meetings.”

What is out of the ordinary is for the team to all be wearing face masks, seated 6 feet apart from one another, and discussing how to change their service model on the fly. Continue reading “On the Town: Family Service Agency quickly changing its service model during coronavirus pandemic”

Burbank now has more than 100 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus.

The city reached the triple-digit mark over the weekend and, as of Monday afternoon, had 103 positive cases, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

Burbank’s numbers have grown steadily since the novel coronavirus was first reported in the city on March 19. Continue reading “Coronavirus cases in Burbank reach the triple-digit mark”